The Canadian dollar strengthened against the greenback on Friday, and the yield on benchmark government debt slipped.

The loonie was trading 0% higher at C$1.4393 to the greenback, or 69.48 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.437 to 1.4435.

Canadian government 10-year bond yields fell 5.7 basis points to 3.29%. The yield on similar U.S. government benchmark debt fell to 4.5022%.

U.S. February crude futures fell 65 cents to $68.73 a barrel on Friday.

Canadian retail sales rose 0.6% in November from October. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected retail sales growth of 0.7%.Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.1% in November, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast November sales, excluding autos, to be up 0.5%.